Dolebludger

Well, if one cruises in any level of the Retreat, and goes outside of Retreat facilities, lines and crowds may be encountered. Like at the pool and at performances. Some may like this, as providing a lively atmosphere. We don’t. But when we cruised in a CS, and then in a RS a few years back, the less expensive fares (compared to the lux lines then) were enough for us to want to again. Now these price levels are actually higher in cost compared to the lux lines, via my research. From this forum, I know that the SS no longer has anything like a butler, and the steward only makes up the room. No included use of the mini fridge, and getting soda and beer for the room is do-it-yourself. With CS and RS, these matters are not clear, but I wonder if any services to the room are provided above make up? With the fact that, in a less expensive Regent concierge suite, we know we do get these services at lower cost and that makes us book Regent again. There is not a person called a butler on Regent at this level, but the steward has fewer rooms and is able to perform tasks that the butler in the Retreat (if provided) performed in years past. Basically, on Regent, you don’t need a butler. And there will be no lines or crowds anywhere on the ship. There is nightly entertainment, though at a lower key than on Celebrity, but with no lines or crowds for seating and with waiter service. There is also a casino for those who want one (we don’t). And getting off and back on at ports is easy with only 750 to 400 guests on board (depending on the ship). It all depends on what one wants in a cruise.

Actually, five or so years ago, we found that Celebrity suites were a true lux (super premium) product, at a lower cost than a lux line. Now, Retreat prices have been jacked up. In many cases higher than lux lines. And service seems reduced, according to reports. Want a recommendation? Check out Regent.

Good! That is the info,I was looking for. I didn’t want to book on an all inclusive cruise like Regent, and be charged for everything on a “private island”. Sounds good!

This thread is about fares for cruises in The Retreat,— am I wrong? If not, I contend that fares for the Retreat are way too high, considering the competition. Now, if you want to book inside, ocean view, or basic balcony, the fares look competitive. But for the Retreat, fares are too high to be competitive. And that’s all I have.

To clarify, Regent includes business/first air ONLY on what it defines as "intercontinental" legs that go beyond North America (the Caribbean is considered to be in North America -- go figure). There are some limited specials from time to time on Regent that include all air business/first, but far from on all cruises. So even if you book Regent with "free business/first air" your flight legs within North America (as defined) will be economy. We have a Regent cruise booked this March that embarks in San Juan and disembarks in Miami. Regent includes air only from their "gateway" airports. In my case this means Denver or Dallas. Getting to one of those is on us.We can upgrade the air from and to either of these gateway airports from economy to business/first for $1200 pp which we are doing. We will probably chose Dallas as our "gateway" because Denver has been a real mess lately. Another example of Regent's air inclusion would be our cruise a few years ago that embarked in Tahiti and disembarked in Lima Peru. In this case, we had to pay for air to Denver. Regent paid for air to LAX but it was economy. From LAX to Tahiti the Regent provided air was business/first. Upon return, Regent provided a direct flight from Lima to Denver, and it was business/first. Silversea has an option that includes air at a higher cruise fare. We have not cruised Silversea under this program, but supposedly it covers air from and to my home city (Durango CO) and even transportation to my home airport -- and back. But it is economy air which can be upgraded for an additional-additional charge. I wish the matter of cruise line provided air was not so complicated, but it is. I wish some cruise line would include business/first from Durango to and from wherever I need to go -- but nobody does. I can do without the ride to and from the Durango airport. I can easily do that myself.

Yep, what we did was to take all of our "long flight" cruises back when economy air wasn't painful.

Regarding included shore excursions, they are really pretty basic and guests are not required to take them. Lines with included shore excursions also offer premium ones at extra charge. We always end up with room credit on the lux lines, which we use for premium excursions. On these lines, there isn’t much else for which to use the credit.

Well, if you want a cruise that meets your specs, just shop around for the best deal on what you want. If Celebrity has the best deal for what you want, go for it. If not, keep shopping. My research shows Celebrity has competitive prices well below Retreat level. But at Retreat level, just book on a real lux line and save money. What bothers me (as a retired exec/attorney) is that Celebrity booked people in SS with advertised butler service, and then took away the butler on those previously booked. I smell a class action in the future.

Well, as a retired business executive, I do know how competition works. And in this case, Celebrity is charging more for its lux experience than the real lux lines are charging for the real thing. And it has a right to do so. And, on the other hand, we have the right to book a suite on a true lux line for less if we do our homework. In the end, it is up to us to find the best price on what we want.

Yes, NM, you are correct. All cruise prices are shown on web sites with brochure rates crossed out and the REAL rate shown. And when I say that Retreat prices are too high across the board, I speak of REAL prices only. Back late in the last decade I compared REAL prices for the Retreat with REAL prices for lux lines, and the Retreat was the winner. Very lately, I did the same comparison and the Retreat was a real looser (especially due to recent cuts). Competition — I love it!

Well, the problem I see with all of Celebrity’s suite prices on all of their ships is that they cost more than suites on traditional lux lines (Silversea, Regent, Seabourn, etc.). The original marketing concept for the Retreat (and the Yacht Club and the Haven) was to offer accommodations and inclusions in a separate area on a large ship (mass market or slightly premium) that would be much the same as on a lux line at a price less than a lux line. And that was a very good concept. But to price these “separate area” suites higher than those on lux lines they nearly duplicate is not a sustainable concept, IMHO. Several other threads on this sub-forum are full of posts from people who liked the original Retreat concept, but due to the recent higher prices are moving toward (or returning to) the lux lines. People who cruise in the Retreat or on lux lines did not get that way by paying more for anything than was needed to buy it.

We have been at the “Gold” level with Regent for some time, so we get a total of three hours free phone time. But we have never used it at all! If we have to contact somebody “back home” we just email them. Now, we all know that sometimes Regent’s WiFi doesn’t work. But those times usually are fairly short before it comes back enough to send a simple email (no pics or anything). Since the subject came up here I think I’ll try the phone next cruise. But a question. How do we know when we have used up our free time?

Just a different question about Great Stirrup Cay. I’ve heard that NCL cruisers who stop there find that food, drinks, and many activities are at additional charge. Is the same true in the case of Regent guests?

In our recent cruise price/value research, we certainly did not find Silversea to be twice the price of The Retreat. In fact, in many cases, we found Silversea to be less expensive than The Retreat. Of course, Silversea may well be twice the per diem of other levels of Celebrity accommodations that do not include what Silversea and The Retreat do. We too feel that the dress code on Silversea (both official and unofficial) is a bit dressy for us. We find Regent’s dress code and guest’s practices to be much the same as Celebrity. Regent also offers inclusions that The Retreat does not — like unlimited valet laundry services and unlimited use of mini fridge items and restocking. We also found Regent to be less expensive than The Retreat in most cases. Bottom line, our cost/value comparisons did not favor The Retreat. But in many categories below The Retreat, Celebrity’s cost/value relationship looked quite good.

pappy, the other thread here dealt with the fact that Regent is now not including land transfers and embarkation port hotel (concierge suite and above) in Barbados. These services are what I mean by the term “destination services”. The people who provide theses services are independent contractors. But they are (or should be) managed by Regent employees who are also called “destination services”. Clear, I hope.

Along these lines, according to another thread here, Regent is not providing any destination services in Barbados. Guests embarking there must take the credit and set up their own transfers and hotel. I don’t know why, but I think Regent would provide these things if it could.

I have been told that the destination services people on land are contractors, and not employees of Regent. That may be part of the problem.

I think my post #47 above was an error on my part. Not on topic, and makes no sense. Oh, well, I’ll be 80 in four weeks. That is my excuse!

To my observation is that all of those who have gotten the current Coved vac, and all prior suggested vacs, are very unlikely to either get it or transmit it to others. That is highly recommended before travel. E 95 masks do a moderate job of preventing the wearer from getting it, and a much better job at preventing infections from the wearer to spread. First defense is from the vac. If you are so fully vaxed and wear a mask only when in a crowd, all should be fine. This may be unneeded advice, but Cary your Covid vax record with you, in case there are new rules in some ports that pop,up. Other than that, worry only about booking flights to the embarkation port that allow you to get to the embarkation, even if there are some airline foul ups — because these seem to be happening all the time. There is no reason for the cruise onboard experience to be less than seamless.

Tony k the hsvebr=the new vivid vac for the expected new dyraim

If the routes of the flights to your embarkation don’t take you near Russia, Ukraine, Israel, or Gaza, there should not be a problem visiting Oz and NZ and cruising there. The real problem with your cruise plans MIGHT be the unreliability of the airline travel these days. Ensure that you have travel insurance that covers forced overnights caused by airline delays and cancellations, and schedule flights to the embarkation port to arrive at least a day before ship departure. If it is a very long international flight with several connections, perhaps schedule two or three days early. As we are both quite old, we keep our vaccinations for Covid and flu very current, wear masks in crowded airports, and on planes during boarding. On ships (and other places) we avoid crowds. We would like an Oz and NZ cruise except for one thing. We live in the middle of the USA, and friends that have flown from here to OZ (even before current air travel problems) have reported 30 hours of airlines and airports each way. We know we are too old for that stuff! If we weren’t, we’d go and just take care as I’ve described above

I think I may know the problem. As I mentioned before, there seems to be a shortage of service labor, and it seems to be world wide. after the pandemic, it became so bad where I live that I considered moving elsewhere. Then I talked to some people who live here I was considering, and learned it was as bad there! On our Regent Alaska cruise the land services through Regent’s contractors were horrible — thankfully we had booked our own. Onboard, all was great. Getting home, the airline was all fouled up. It seems (I hope) that the lux cruise lines have found a way to still provide good service. I wish the rest of the service and hospitality industry would also.

FWIW, we are more concerned about lack of reliability of air to and from the ship than any other factor. In the past year, we have been stranded three times with a United connection in Denver and had uncompensated forced overnights there. On one occasion, it was going to take three day for it to get us to Boston. All we could get was a flight home the next day, and refund of ticket price — but we still didn’t get to Boston. Not bashing the airlines, as I know they have problems. Just questioning whether they have recovered from the pandemic and following labor shortage to provide reliable service to and from a cruise. But if a cruise line cancels your cruise, all but one I know of gave a cash refund (that one was not Celebrity).

With us, it is not a matter of Celebrity not being “nice enough”. By way of background, we don’t like to cruise where we use big ship MDRs, crowded lounges, and lines and crowds everywhere. Thus, when we have cruised Celebrity, it was in the Retreat. We certainly found that “nice enough” and I’m confident it would still be. The thing we liked about the Retreat was that it was as “nice” as a small ship lux cruise. The benefits were that we could book a suite (like a CS) that was larger than what we would book on a lux line, and (when we cruised in the Retreat) the cost was less. Now the cost is more than the smaller ship lux lines. So it is not a matter of the Retreat not being “nice enough” — it is just too expensive. Especially as some of the perks in the Retreat (or at least some levels of it) appear to have been eliminated.

I believe Oceania includes beer and wine at dinner and lunch now without a package, which was not the case in 2020. Now the drink package gives one most alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks in all lounges. The change, I believe, is a case of a cruise line trying to meet competition. Between 2020 and now, many lines began to find ways to make drinks less like cigarettes in prison! Now I fear that too many are going back to nickel and dimming. But Oceania’s drink package now includes drinks all over the ship, and one gets beer and wine at lunch and dinner without the package. Now, check out my info before you book, as things change, and I have never cruised Oceania. I have cruised it’s “big sister” Regent, where all drinks onboard have been included since around 2004.